I am still avidly awaiting the release of The Repopulation, but I needed a chance to get some gaming in on the side.

About a month ago I set up a trial for EVE Online. I figured I’d give it a shot and see what has changed much since my last experience with the game in 2011.

I created Sonja Austrene, a Minmatar Sebiester. None of that bit really matters except for the part that says Minmatar. So far I’ve really enjoyed flying and engaging in combat using Minmatar ships.

I’m not in PvP right now and there’s a few reasons for that. Most of the reasons revolve around my High Sec corporation.

I do like where the game is right now, and CCP has gone out of their way to try and improve the new player experience. I think I’ll stick with EVE for a while, at least until I’m so busy with The Repopulation that I have no time for it any longer.

OK so I never really hype the MMORPG.com Player’s Choice awards, but this year I’m thinking it’s worth taking a look at.

A lot of people are voting for their favorite game of 2012. Including the folks that are battling it out to see if The Secret World, Guild Wars 2 or Star Wars The Old Republic will be the top game of 2012.

For me, I’m putting bids in for The Repopulation. Who wouldn’t have guessed that right?

It’s not a bad look over to see what players are thinking here at the end of the year.

I have noticed an interesting trend in the MMORPG.com forums. People are posting that they just don’t believe independent developers can build successful MMO’s. Some of these posters are stating that if the big names can’t pull it off, how will the little guys be able to make it?

For what it’s worth I feel like Independent Developers bring a lot to the table. They usually have some fresh ideas on game play that perhaps games with investors can’t take a risk on developing.

So I’m putting this out there for the general community to postulate, ponder, blog about, rant about, what have you. Do you feel that there is a place for Independent MMO developers? Do you think they add to the genre?

I’d love to hear what anyone has to say on either side of the argument.

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Ok so I’m still waiting for The Repopulation. In the meantime I need something to play/build/ well you know.

I went to use my Sims 3 Create-A-World tool and I had the craziest problem. I couldn’t use the in game editor. For brand new worlds I could use it once, but if I saved it and closed it, I couldn’t use it again. It was REALLY strange.

I’m stoked, we made it through one more round of Diablo 3. Surprisingly enough, I’m still enjoying the game. I like watching the story unfold.

I’m usually an MMO player, so I don’t really play many games that have a storyline that you just kind of follow along as you go.

CrankyB (Void) is helping me keep calm even when Demon Hunter gets mobbed. It can be annoying. Especially when I hit a lag spike and it takes 5 minutes for my system to catch up. Dealing with laggy net has been an issue I’ve been dealing with for a bit now. I just have to remember to take a deep breath and focus on working around lag issues.

I also have to remember to stay back as far as I can, shoot as fast as I can and try to stay out of the way. Those seem to be my best tactics.

The skills keep getting more fun and interesting. Some you think are going to be awesome, don’t seem to live up to much until you get to add a rune to them. Others are a blast right out of the gate.

I’m looking forward to the next set of skills. Tonight though we called it off just after hitting the end of Act 1. I’m not complaining, I actually got a chance to see the end of Act 1.

The crafting system is still kind of meh, but I’m only at level 2 or so I think. It also seems to be one hell of a gold sink. That’s probably not such a big deal, I mean it drops off all kinds of stuff.

So far we haven’t crafted too many items. I’ve been stockpiling mats though, so I’m hoping that once I do see something I want to make, I’m good to go.

Sadly though I’ve had some rare stuff drop, and I’m not sure I want to replace it yet. I might though, we’ll see what happens.

Right now I’m sad I have to log out, I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Two things about Cataclysm and 4.3.3 that I think are all win, at least while leveling my little Dwarf butt off are Dungeon Finder and Guild leveling.

Dungeon finder helps me get 3 toons leveled at one time, that’s all win.

Guild leveling and achievements give all three of us some things to accomplish as a team.

Yeah before it was bragging rights to say that your guild completed dungeons. When the Achievement system came out, yeah you could see that a person completed dungeons, but not whether they did it in a guild group or solo.

With Guild achievements, we’re able to show that we completed dungeons as a team.

So far with just the three of us have 130 points in Guild Achievements, all of which are dungeon points. It’s kinda sweet to see that just the three of us can actually level a whole guild.

The Dwarven trio consists of a Cranky Protection Paladin, one Surley Restoration Shaman, and a crazy Frost Mage. For the most part we’ve been able to 3 man things even when the other two DPS drop out after getting lewtz or an achievable.

So far this group seems to work really well. I mean we keep the crazy Mage alive so that’s win. Though when the Cranky Pally is running backwards in dungeons laughing while dragging half the mobs, I’m fighting to keep his plated butt healed and the Mage’s elemental has aggroed yet another group… it’s really amazing that we’re not making more corpse runs.

So far we’ve had only one full wipe on a dungeon run. Considering what I’ve seen when pugging otherwise, that’s not a bad record at all. I take full blame for that wipe, I forgot to tell the tank to clear the wings before going for the boss. I know, I’m a very bad Shaman, but I’m so good at what I do…

OK anyways, this Dwarven trio has made it to 43. We are going a little slow, but this way we all stay about the same level. This makes hopping in the queue a lot easier.

Solo we’d probably each get up there a lot faster, but there is NO way I’d heal for Dungeon Finder pugs EVER again. I’m getting spoiled having my tank in vent and having him keeping an eye on my mana bar. OK that AND having a tank that wants to make sure that he catches all the aggro…. It’s pretty effing awesome.

When dungeon pugging it’s not often you get to run with a good tank, and you know them when you find them. They’re a joy to keep alive. Especially when a lot of tanks I’d prefer to look at and say “knock it off or so help me I will find a way to kill you and loot your corpse.”

I’m sure that other healers out there can agree with me.

How I’m Doing it (aka THE TIPS)

OK for folks just scanning blogs for tips and tricks, I would say, healing with Shammies at least in the low level dungeons is all win. Up to 43 I’ve had little trouble keeping up with the tank and even on long fights my mana regen is sufficient to keep the tank alive.

I am running with a Paladin tank though, so that helps a bunch, if he’s panicky he can toss an offheal.

ALSO this worked on a 43 Resto Shammy as of patch 4.3.3 so USE WITH CAUTION

Water Shield – keep this up on you all the time, it significantly helps with mana regen

Earth Shield – keep this on the tank, since Shammy’s don’t have a running heal this will keep the tank alive when he starts running backwards through crap and ends up out of range, it also helps keep constant heals going while Healing Stream is taking it’s sweet time charging up cause let’s face it, stacking haste is even harder than stacking spirit when you’re going through armor faster than most people go through underpants.

TOTEMS:

Strength of Earth – boosts Strength and Agility, strength is great for most tanking classes, Agility boosts critical strike on most melee DPS classes.

Flametongue – boosts spellpower for all party members, which means I heal better and caster classes hit harder, pure win.

Healing Stream – keeps everyone alive, this way I don’t have to heal DPS and Warlocks can tap away then stand next to this puppy and I don’t feel guilty about healing the tank over healing the ‘lock, life is good.

Windfury – increases melee and ranged attack speed, yeah a grounding totem would help but I’d spend a good part of the Dungeon tossing that bad boy out over and over every time it got hit, with Windfury I’m tossing the party a buff, to me that seems to be a little more win.

Yeah most of the Totems I’m tossing are buff Totems, but let’s face it, every little bit helps.

Gear Stats

Intellect – Bigger Mana pool, you’re gonna need it

Spirit – puts mana back into that pool faster, buff food can help with this as well. Oh and throwing on a shield, putting a +Spirit enchant on that shield, big bonus. Doesn’t matter how big your mana pool is, if it doesn’t replenish, you’re toast as soon as the tank drains it dry. Don’t get me started on whiley DPS, you know how you are.

Stamina – Keeps you alive if you get hit, but I will sacrifice this over the other two, usually I can just enchant gear for extra stamina, getting more Spirit is usually tougher

Glyphs

Glyph of Earth Shield – Increases amount healed by Earth Shield

Glyph of Totemic Recall – Get 50% mana back when you recall Totems

Glyph of Water Walking – Water Walking doesn’t require a reagent… What this is fun to cast in Black Fathom Deeps, do you know how long it takes for some folks to figure out how to turn this off? COMEDY GOLD I’m telling ya… try it, not on me, I’m patenting it.

Spells

After tossing Earth Shield on the Tank, use Healing Wave as much as possible, it costs less mana. Go for Healing Surge when things are getting really hairy, but try to conserve it since it takes a lot of mana. By 43 you’ve got Chain Heal, if melee DPS is taking damage, you can toss this at the tank and heal the DPS at the same time, all win.

The downside to this scheme is that outside dungeons, I’m totally useless, I need a second set of gear to kill a sewer rat. BUT when I do set foot in a dungeon, I keep my guy alive, he’s happy, I’m happy, life is good.

PS, if anyone has any tips for me, leave them, I don’t mind knowing I can do something better.

All the while, we’re helping the crazy Mage who’s elemental has just pulled something else….
*sigh*

The plan at this time is for the Guild to complete all of the dungeons, which means, well, getting to the end game. I’m hoping to be able to post more fun tips and such getting up to that level.

OK if you want you can check out the patch notes for 2.1 here. 2.1 is mostly bug and bonus fixing with a couple of coolness features here and there.

3 BIG items
Progress towns won’t lose buildings via server restart.
Geology and Nature kits are no longer required (that clears up some room in the pack).
And all crafting facilities are now universal.

Now the really big news is the PTS (Public Test Server). According to the news on the FE website the PTS is due to return this month. No time set yet.

It will however have the World Events and Faction Territory Control. Evidently Faction Territory Control will actually have a new zone all to it’s self.

The details for both the World Events and Faction Territory Control sound pretty wicked.

Successful World Events will reward PVE players after they fight off waves of whatever or some giant monster. It does look like it’ll be a different mechanic than Progress Towns so that should be interesting.

Faction Territory Control will actually let a faction take over a town and set up in a keep within that town. While at first they sound like your normal progress towns, they really aren’t. Each one of these areas are going to have 13 points to capture with 7 inside a keep the players can defend, with the other 6 standing out in the open making them harder to defend.

There’s a lot more to it, but until it’s live I’m not going to worry about the details. You can check out the screenies and more over at the Fallen Earth Dev Blog.

Per request I’m posting some screenies of Alpha County. The wall of text includes some survival hints I’ve discovered and received while out and about in AC.

First of a wee bit of lore, promise, just a bit. The thing about AC is that it is a total wasteland. If you remember your Fallen Earth history, pretty much the whole planet is a wasteland aside from small pockets of civilization thriving within low radiation zones.

Alpha County had been a full radiation zone until fairly recently. Of course now that the radiation is at safe levels it’s ok to send in the tourists err I mean us clones. Then again clones are always going where we aren’t supposed to go but that’s a side note.

Safe to say the landscape is permanently altered. That and after years of barely surviving the radiation the plants and animals are heavily mutated and some of them are downright cranky.

That’s part of what makes AC look so wild. Totally wild enough to be worth checking out even if it’s a bit of a ride.

So how do you get to AC? Well the great wall that blocks AC from the rest of the canyon is found at the tail end of Terminal woods. You can get there by driving from Tanner’s field and on south. You follow the road as it goes past the Shiva’s, winds around the evil bunnies, past the horrible uneven bit of road and boom before you know it you can see the wall. Once there you’ll see a garage and a cloner. Park your mount and hit the cloner. You’ll be able to teleport right into Alpha County.

Now here’s a little on what to expect while IN AC.

Road Out of Order

Travel in AC is a pain. The map is heavily textured with canyons, crags, hills, mountains, pipes, fractured roadways, and these bastard lions with a killer stun. I hate the lions. I hate them so much.

First off, unless you want to stick to the roads leave your Interceptor in Deadfall. If you thought using an Interceptor in Deadfall was nuts, in AC they’re pretty much useless off the roads. This is where either a Dune Buggy or a Blight Wolf will be your best option.

The Blight Wolf by the way has been called a fuzzy Jeep, and yeah that totally fits the bill. The Blight Wolf is able to run up some crazy inclines AND it can jump over the craggy terrain these two features make it bar none the best mount for AC.

The Blight Wolf is a Deadfall faction mount by the way. You pick up this mount after completing a quest chain, grinding some rep, and then completing another quest chain for the Shiva’s Favored in Deadfall. The work for that is a quest chain is a post of it’s own that I’ll have to write that up later. While a bit of a pain and requiring a boat load of medium rifle ammo, it’s TOTALLY worth the time and effort for a mount that can pretty much go anywhere.

I still manage to get it stuck sometimes. Ask Chunga (Game Masters). But I’m talented.

Now that you have your mount of choice here’s the next travel hazard in AC, lions. These bastards throw a wicked stun that throws you out of your mount and hits you so hard that your weapons won’t equip. I kid you not.

Here’s how you get around that. First off go into your actions and in the “General” section pull “Mount” and put it on your action bar. Now when one of those lions hit you with the stun, click or hot key that ability then mow that bastard down.

Finally, and this is probably one of the biggest rules in AC, bring a friend. A lot if the AC content is rough and pretty much designed to be team oriented. I’m sure you can solo some of it if you want to, but hey if you can rope someone else into helping out why not right?

Shackleton (just behind the wall)

Hopefully some of these tips will help make your introduction to AC a bit easier. The content is another story entirety. That however I’ll leave to you, no spoilers here!

Chances are my time in AC will be spent grinding faction or having some fun in Blockade. So till next time I’ll be battling in the wastelands.

So Scary tweeted and G+ this the other day. When I read up on it I figured that I wanted to be involved. Since getting into the RP thing I’m starting to get into the writing side of MMORPG’s and the stories that are involved.

If you’re a fan of stories and have a buck or maybe two burning a hole in your pocket (well unless you’ve pre-ordered SWToR CE) take a peek at this and help them meet thier $1,000 goal. They’re real close and they only have a few more days.